Guards at Canada-U.S. border crossings are so focused on collecting customs revenues that security has taken a backseat, according to a Senate committee report released Tuesday.
The Senate security and defence committee, in its third national security report in less than a week, says not enough is being done to keep dangerous people and goods from crossing into Canada.
The report blames successive federal governments for missing opportunities to boost border security because they were too focused on collecting duties.
It suggests the personal duty-free limit should be raised to $2,000 for Canadians returning from the U.S. -- to relieve border guards from having to enforce minor infractions.
"Let the border officers concentrate on people bringing guns in, drugs in and terrorists that might be coming," Liberal Sen. Colin Kenny, who heads the committee, told Â鶹´«Ã½net. "That's their real job, to protect Canadians and to protect Canada -- not to be tax collectors or to be auditors."
The report notes that money collected at the border only accounted for 0.147 per cent of national revenues in 2004.
"If the federal government really needs that 0.147 per cent, it has a multitude of other ways of raising the money, which would allow border guards to guard our borders," said the all-party committee.
The report calls for better equipment, including improved electronic identification devices, for border guards.
It also challenges the government to plan better to counter crime and terrorism at the border.
Other recommendations in the 144-page report include:
- Adopting measures to stop border-running at Canada's 10 busiest crossings by the end of 2008, and all crossings by 2010.
- Increase staffing at border crossings to more than the current annual average of 54 new officers
- Stop hiring part-time staff, usually students, that are not trained properly for the job.
The latest evaluation follows two negative reports about lax security at airport and seaports.
With files from The Canadian Press
